University of Adelaide researchers were inspired by everything from chocolate biscuits and Doctor Who aliens when choosing names for 10 new species of wasps.

“I named one wasp Sathon oreo as the antennae are dark brown with a thick white stripe in the middle… like an Oreo chocolate biscuit,” says Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries from the University of Adelaide’s School of Biological Sciences.

While the new species Choeras zygon is named for the Zygon race of aliens in Doctor Who.

These wasps inject their eggs into live caterpillars, and the baby wasps slowly eat the caterpillar from the inside out. As gruesome as it sounds, they are very important in ecosystems for regulating native caterpillar populations.

One of the new wasps, Choeras bushblitz, takes its name from the Bush Blitz species discovery program, a unique multi-million dollar partnership between the Australian Government … and Earthwatch Australia to document plants and animals across Australia.

“Less than 10% of this group of wasps have scientific names, which is why programs like Bush Blitz are so vital. We have discovered over 1,660 new species since 2010, and 17 of those are wasps”, says Jo Harding, Bush Blitz Manager.

Taxonomy, the scientific discipline of describing new species, is vital for understanding and documenting the living things around us. “Until taxonomists name and formally describe a species, it is difficult for other researchers, such as those working in conservation, or biological control, to do anything with it,” says Ms Harding.

Inspirational taxonomists and entomologists that helped Dr Fagan-Jeffries collect vital specimens for this research, as well as those who feature prominently throughout her career, were also honoured with species named after them.

“I always loved insects in school, and I had a lot of incredible support from entomologists, back then and also during my PhD, who fuelled my passion for following a scientific career path,” Dr Fagan-Jeffries says. “Naming species after those people is just a tiny way of saying thank you.”

5 thoughts on “New Australian wasp species named after Doctor Who”

I’m one of those strange people who love wasps. They rarely sting me if I don’t get near their nests. I love to see them searching for nectar/pollen on my garden plants. Sometimes, mid-summer, the flowers and bushes seem to shake with the their industrious foraging.

Very pretty wasp. Where I live we have mostly the black ones and the black and yellow ones, that I notice anyways. They usually leave me alone since I do make the effort to not get to close. I am very grateful for how helpful all of the critters on earth help each other and the economy as long as they are allowed to live in peace